The hooker hotel didn't disappoint. Equally as raunchy and whatnot as you'd like. The Springfield Diner served it's purpose with greatness.
Unfortunately, Rotting Out didn't play. Sounds like someone in the band got injured during another show. Something like that. Sucks because Rotting Out is a great band and we really wanted to see them.
The PBR deal was gone unfortunately. They were slinging Rolling Rock instead for $5 a can. That's ok, but much rather have PBR.
No Option - Missed them. They were a last minute addition to the show because Rotting Out wasn't playing. They opted to add a opener type band than a more established later in the day type band.
World Demise - Missed them on purpose. Every single time I would go to the This is Hardcore website there would be all the advertisements for this band. Made me hate them.
Please Die - I liked this band on recordings. They didn't play Pay Up or a few of the other sings I liked from their new CD. That's ok. More of a sing along oi hardcore band. Not too many opportunities for the mosh. Not the hardcore mosh at least. Crowd response was averagely disinterested. I liked the set though.
Raw Brigade - From Columbia. They had all the energy. Perfect band for the fest. Good fast straight edge hardcore. Not too much metal involved here.
True Love - I very much liked this band. They're good on recordings, better live. Middle of the road hardcore in terms of fast vs metal. Good energy, good response from the crowd.
Regulate - Blew the place up. This band is very good. I really enjoyed pretty much everything about the set. Great energy, good sound. The singer has a nice voice for mid pace hardcore. They played some songs off the new album that I haven't heard yet. They had one song that I thought wasn't any good, but the rest was killer.
Shipwrecked - The band lucked out pretty much because there was a serious lightning storm going on outside so they had to make everyone go inside. Pretty much everyone saw this band. But similarly to Please Die, they're a different style of hardcore than you can mosh hard and bang your head to. The crowd response was very mild. Though I thought they played their songs well. They played Destroy and Fast Violent Noise and some other bangers. I'm not sure why there was such a long time waiting for them to play once they appeared to be set up already. Like the band, wrong fest for them.
Shark Attack - They've been playing for a long time, but I think during the set they said it was their first time in Philly. I like the singer and how he looks like a wise guy pretty much all the time. This goofy smirk on his face. Not mosh hardcore, but fast hardcore. Faster than Please Die and Shipwrecked, less metal than anyone else as well. They're well known, the crowd response was good. They have some really good jams. Most likely played every song they have.
Vein - Dinner time. Though, based on everything everyone said I should have watched.
Incendiary - Killed it. Best band of the day. They have so many good songs, just absolutely kill it every time. The mosh was on. The singalong was on. Pretty much everything was good. Good song selection as well. The singer tried to say some meaningful words about hardcore and social activism I guess. Kind of missed the mark. But that didn't matter much.
Ten Yard Fight - I wasn't sure about this one honestly. They are a good band for sure. High intensity. High energy. Again the singer tried to get into some basic political stuff, kind of missed the mark in terms of being really engaging with it. Respect the effort. They played all the bangers that you would want to see. Good energy from old heads. Back in 89 when the cowboys were strong.
Best bands:
1. Incendiary
2. Regulate
3. Ten Yard Fight
4. Raw Brigade
